Faster Than You Can Say Sabotage
by BandanaMansDamsel
Summary: James is his, even if he doesn't know it yet, and no one can take that away from him. At least he hopes not. One-shot Based off Taylor Swift's Better Than Revenge.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush or anything else you might recognize.**

Her name was Amber. She was tall, thin, and looked like Megan Fox and Katy Perry combined. She was gorgeous. Carlos wouldn't be suprised if that was the only reason she landed any roles.  
That's right, she was also an actress. Nothing huge, just a few television roles here and there on Disney, figures, she was still trying to get her career to take off. So of course her agent suggested she move into the Palm Woods. It was where all the future famous lived...

That's when everything started going wrong. Or at least for him.

It was August. One encounter with James and she was taken, or so she claimed.  
Now, if the circumstances were different, Carlos wouldn't have blamed her.  
With James' perfect hair, washboard abs, toned arms, and a smile to die for, who wouldn't be 'taken.' In fact, Carlos was more than taken by his best friend, he was in love with him. Completely, totally in love with him for as long as he could remember. And not just because James was undeniably hot. He was also funny. Loyal. Sweet. Araggant, conceited, but in a dorky, loveable kind of way. He had always felt this way about his best friend, he just didn't realize that it wasn't something that you feel about anyone. Sure Kendall and Logan were good looking, and he loved them to, but with James it was different.  
He didn't do anything about it though. At least he didn't mean too.

They had gotten even closer over the summer. It was weird 'cause he thought they were already really close. It's just that Logan and Kendall were often off doing their own thing, leaving their two crazier friends to, well, go crazy. Nobody complained though, it was actually better this way. Some swirly slide action, dino shaped chicken fights, pranks, wrestling, it was all good, and so much more fun without Logan complaining.  
Except that one night. It could've been the best night of Carlos' entire life. Could've changed everything. But it wasn't. And it did.

The whole day had been devoted to a nerf gun war between the two of them. It ended with them collapsing on the couch in the deserted Palm Woods lobby at around 10 pm. Bitters took a sick day, and the guy filling in for him didn't care at all. About anything. He was a pretty chill dude.  
Maybe it was just the heat getting to them. Or maybe it was those darn teen hormones. but Carlos thinks it was more than that.

_"Dude! I totally beat you! I hit you like a million times!" Carlos exclaimed getting up in James' face._

_"Are you kidding? That's a joke! You got me like 5 times, maybe!" James was grinning as he said it, but trying to act serious, cuz hey, this was important stuff._

_Now Carlos was pratically in his friend's lap. "Oh Yeah?" Then he swallowed when he realized how close they actually were. He could feel James breathing. _

_James noticed too. "Yeah," he said, only this time it was low and hushed. He glanced down to Carlos' lip for a split-second. Neither of them moved away. Since Carlos was the one who had gotten so much closer he kind of felt he should've moved away. But he didn't. He was feeling brave. Not brave enough to go through with anything though.  
They were just sitting there looking into eachother's eyes. He could feel James' heart beating fast and was so sure James was about to close the space between them. Carefully, slowly-_  
Of course, it didn't end there. She had called James over after she checked in asking him to help with her oh-so-heavy bag. It was only one bag though so there was no use for Carlos. He watched as they entered the elevator to go up to her new room, he could tell she was fake-laughing to something James said while James just obliviously flashed his signature smile feeling a lot more confident.

But the bell that rang whenever someone walked throough the main entrance went off, startling them out of their trance. Starling Carlos so much that he fell off the couch and onto the floor.  
Then he heard an unfamiliar feminine voice with an english accent:  
"Hi, I'm Amber Hayes, could you maybe tell me where I check in?"  
Carlos sat up. The question had been directed towards James but before he could answer Bitters' substitute stepped in and called her over to the desk. She thanked him anyway, and put out her to shake his. He accepted.  
"Uh no problem. Um, I'm James by the way," James said flushed. Carlos wasn't sure if it was from the little moment they almost had or the hot girl talking to him. The way he was looking at her kind of cleared that up though.  
"Was I interupting something?" She asked noticing Carlos now. His cheeks were also a little red.  
But James jumped in quick, "No! I mean no we were just-" he said trying to think of something. It's like she could hear Carlos' heart breaking, because he could swear she looked right at him and smirked.

Sabotage.  
It had begun.

Carlos thought that maybe he was overreacting. He would just wait upstairs in his and James' room and then when James got back they would talk and everything would be fixed.  
Or not.

It was _hours_ before James came back, it was almost 1. When the door opened, the little raven-haired boy preteneded to be asleep. He couldn't let James see his tears, but he peaked through the covers just to get a glimpse of James. Said boy's clothes were a little wrinkled and his hair a bit ruffled up. He walked to his dresser grabbing pajamas, Carlos thinks, and then out to probably change in the bathroom.  
Carlos was hurt, yet couldn't bring himself to be mad at James. It was Amber. He could feel the hate flowing through his veins.  
_  
He underestimated just who he was dealing with._

September comes around and nothing is better. James is now going out with Miss Amber Hayes and seems to have forgotten about the moment he and Carlos almost had. They never talked about, James just acted like it never happened. Nothing goes back to normal though because Carlos doesn't let it. Things are awkward and Kendall and Logan have no idea why, James doesn't seem to notice, too busy being arm candy for his girl friend. The one who as soon as she was seen with him, started getting a lot more attenion. A lot more callbacks. A lot more everything.

This gets Carlos thinking. He decides he needs the help of the sneakiest, most clever person he knows. Katies is more than willingly to help, after all, having the ability to ruin other people's to lives _is_ one of her specialties.

October is busy but goes by fast and now it's November. Katie and Carlos are in the supply closet looking over all the dirt they dug up on Amber; in their Robin and Hoodie getups of course, complete with eye black and black hoodies. It all kind of gave him a rush. Carlos wasn't the type to be mean, but this, _this was sweet_.

He doesn't even understand why she was doing this to him. In fact, there was no solid proof showing she was.  
He knew though. Everytime she was with James he could feel her looking his way, rubbing it in, smirking. He was sure that it was about the money and having her career take off, although no one seemed to have the heart to tell James that, but he was also sure that she got some sweet satisfaction from messing with Carlos. Taking James away. _And he had no fucking clue why.  
_  
It didn't matter though, he thought as he traced the edges of the photos with his fingers. Some of the stuff they found was intense. Whatever.  
_  
She underestimated just who she was stealing from.  
_  
By the end of November, Hollywood gets a taste of the real Amber Hayes. She's no saint, and yes that's actually the headline of People's magizine. An annonymous source submitted tons of photos of her from clubs and bars, not only is she underage, but she's also in severeal comprimising positions with various guys.  
And it just keeps getting worse as weeks pass by. More rumors and stories are started that Carlos and Katie honestly have no part in. Some are actually very disturbing, like the one about her and a fourty year old man in England.  
James is shocked, but sticks by her like a good little boyfriend. She's still got him wrapped around her finger, even though she's being pushier and bossier than ever.  
It bothers him so much that if anything, their scheme only made Amber need James that much more.

And Carlos wants to cry all over again because James is his. It used to be James and him against the world, but this bitch stole that from him. _This bitch_. James was his!

After sitting for a while in his room choking back tears, he realizes something else.  
She wasn't only messing with Carlos, in the end it would hurt James too. She obviously wasn't in love with him and could only act like it for so long. James was gonna be devastated because he did absolutely nothing wrong, but he's gonna blame himself anyway.  
Moodswing.  
Sensitive Carlos is gone and all he wants is revenge. This time, he's gonna get it.

Turns out everything from the month before wasn't a waste. So many people are hating on her and less and less people are interested in her new movie coming soon to theaters. It makes her furious and Carlos is enjoying every second of it.

Katie and him decide to take it one step farther though.  
She really wasn't that careful. It wasn't that hard to record a video of her bad mouthing her cast. Or talking smack about her 'friends'.  
He doesn't even feel guilty when he posts them online for the whole world to see.

A few weeks later he's searching for more blackmail when he hears something he isn't even sure what to do with.

She's on the phone standing in the hallway by herself:  
_"I know! I don't even know why I'm even with him anymore. He's not bringing me down, but he's not helping me either. Right now I need all the help I can get before all of god damn America hates me!" _Too Late, he thinks.  
_"He won't even do anything besides kiss. Anytime I try anything he refuses. Or says he's 'not ready'. I swear he should be thanking me! I saved him from ruining his career with that short Latino boy. He's pretty though but once my movie releases we're done. I heard Zac Efron's single..."  
_  
He presses stop on the recorder and races up to his room and locks the door. He's trying to comprehend everything as he sits in the corner clutching the tape. He chucks it accross the room, but he doesn't hear it break.  
He doesn't understand anything. Shouldn't he be happy? It was just what he had been looking for. He just didn't think he was gonna find it.

Carlos is full on crying when he hears the door to the room open and in pops James.

"Carlos?" He immediately rushes over to the shorter boy, crouching down to his eye level, "What's wrong? Is everything ok? I mean ok stupid of course it's not, you're crying."  
Carlos just turns away, he seriously doesn't think he can deal with this right now, doesn't trust himself to speak. There's a tiny part of him that just wants to collapse into James' arms and cry. It wants to confess everything that's eating up inside him. Stuff he didn't even know were building up until now. He gets up and marches to the bathroom, pushing the taller boy out of the way in the process.  
James is left standing in his room, alone and confused, wondering what's going on.

Carlos comes out of the bathroom a few hours later to find Katie and tell her that the plan is through. He's done. Whatever happens, happens. He goes back to his room, which is empty just like he was hoping. Sitting on his bed, leaning against the back board, he brings his knees up to his chest and hugs them tight.  
He closes his eyes rocking back and forth slowly because he feels like he's going to cry again. It's building up.

Suddenly there's a weight shift right next to him on the bed. He opens his eyes carefully to see James putting his arms around him and pulling him into his lap rocking them as Carlos was doing previously. Carlos chokes back more tears, but it starts getting ridiculous, so he buries his head in James' chest and muffled cries escape his lips.  
James just cooed and drew circles with his thumb on the smaller boy's back, soothing him. Carlos knew he had to tell him. It was now or never. He sat up to talk, but James beat him to it.  
"I know," he said. Now Carlos was confused, but James just pushed his head back into his chest and continued rocking and drawing circles. "Maybe not everything, but I know a lot. I heard the tape..." The tape. The one that he completely forgot to pick up after he threw it.  
"And then Katie told me some stuff. I kinda also already knew some stuff on my own too."

"I'm sorry," was all Carlos could manage, tears still running down his face.

"Don't be" James said tilting Carlos' head up so he could look him in the eyes. He frowned and wiped away the tears on the Latino's face. "I broke up with her."  
James leaned and kissed Carlos right on the lips. He tensed a little, but then relaxed into James' soft touch as he deepened the kiss.  
"I'm the one who should be sorry," he whispered in his ear, "I'm so sorry Carlos." Then he leaned in again, this time it lasted longer.  
It was crazy. Carlos felt so guilty, but the sincerity in his best friend's voice and the way their lips moved together made everything feel better.

They talked through the night, Carlos still in James' arms, any weight left on his shoulders was gone. He explained everything  
"It's just, I've always loved you, and you didn't or I didn't-I just-I love you James."  
"I love you too baby," James said pressing their foreheads together. "You and me against the world. Forever. I promise."

This was what he wanted. Nothing would ever be like it used to be in the begining of the summer, but it was perfect. Just like this. He almost felt like his usual, happy, hyperactive self.  
And hell, revenge was never really his thing anyway.

**Review.**


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